[Buildroot] [PATCH v2] syslinux: Use the host compiler to build extlinux

[Carlos Santos]

> From: "Thomas Petazzoni" <thomas.petazzoni at free-electrons.com>
> To: "Carlos Santos" <casantos at datacom.ind.br>
> Cc: buildroot at buildroot.org, "Benoît Allard" <benoit.allard at greenbone.net>
> Sent: Monday, October 2, 2017 4:15:47 PM
> Subject: Re: [Buildroot] [PATCH v2] syslinux: Use the host compiler to build extlinux

> Hello,
> 
> On Sat, 30 Sep 2017 20:35:20 -0300, Carlos Santos wrote:
>> Like the utilities, it is meant to run on the host machine, hence must
>> be built using the host toolchain.
>> 
>> Signed-off-by: Carlos Santos <casantos at datacom.ind.br>
> 
> It is not entirely clear if everybody agrees that "extlinux" is a host
> or a target program.
> 
> Benoît Allard, who used to work on the syslinux package in Buildroot
> wrote in http://www.syslinux.org/archives/2017-April/025755.html:
> 
> """
> 1. utilities required during the build (prepcore)
> 2. utilities meant to be run in the target operating-system (isohybrid,
>  memdisk, the extlinux installer, ...)
> 3. utilities used to boot the operating system
> """
> 
> So he was considering the extlinux installer as a program for the
> target.
> 
> A few years earlier, another person on the Buildroot mailing list, also
> wanted to have the extlinux installer on the target:
> http://buildroot-busybox.2317881.n4.nabble.com/syslinux-on-target-td81294.html.
> 
> So, I'm not sure. Perhaps we need a host-syslinux package to install
> those utilities ?
> 
> Or perhaps I'm being too complicated here, we should just merge your
> patch, and adjusts when/if someone complains ?

Well, there is a chicken-egg problem here because extlinux is a boot
loader so you must have it installed on the target partition in order to
be able to boot.

On embedded systems this made on the host machine, manipulating the
disk image (which was exactly the problem I had when I needed to use
extlinux).

-- 
Carlos Santos (Casantos) - DATACOM, P&D
“The greatest triumph that modern PR can offer is the transcendent 
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rather than the other way about.” — Christopher Hitchens